Teacher Tuesday – Mrs Louise Davis

Teacher Tuesday – Mrs Louise Davis

As a number of our Secondary Students prepare to attend the Model United Nations (MUN) Conference this weekend, readers of this week’s Teacher Tuesday will learn more about the benefits of participating in MUN during our interview with Mrs Louise Davis,  Year 8K Form Tutor, Teacher of Humanities and Coordinator of the MUN ECA.

How many years have you been teaching?
I have been teaching for 18 years, but I also taught English for two years before I qualified as a teacher.

When did you join KIS?
I joined KIS in August 2017, at the beginning of this academic year.

What attracted you to KIS?
I liked the fact that it was a small school, where students could attend for their whole school life and so would know each other and their teachers very well. I knew that the whole school community would be supportive of one another and it would be like a second home.

Term 1 recently finished, what was the highlight of your first term at KIS?
The students. Meeting the students and working with them. Students are the heart of a school.

What is your favorite classroom resource and why?
I have to say the atlas. It is a factual resource as it contains lots of useful information but there is also a fantasy element as one can dream of travelling to all the places found there.

You are currently running an Extra Curricular Activity called Model United Nations (MUN), what is that?
MUN is a simulation of the United Nations and is designed for students at school and university-level. In our first term simulation, we chose a topic, Measures to Limit Military Spending, and students represented a UN country. They did lots of research and wrote about what that country’s position is on this issue. Then, the students came together to write a resolution as to how the (M)UN would limit military spending. Finally, they will debate that resolution.

Why would you encourage students to participate in MUN?
MUN helps students gain an appreciation of the UN’s work and expands their knowledge of the world and what is going on. Students learn to listen, read for detail and speak in public. MUN also allows students to develop leadership skills. Once our team returns from this weekend’s MUN conference, it will be able to organise the second phase of our ECA. MUN is not for everyone though. It involves a substantial time commitment as a lot of research has to be done in one’s own time.

What has been a particularly memorable experience in your teaching career?
I have been involved in service activities for a long time and took a group of Sixth Form students to southern China to build houses with Habitat for Humanity.

Tell us a little known fact about you:
I love to knit.

If you weren’t a teacher what job would you do and why?
I would probably still be a civil servant, which is what I was before I became a teacher. I had a job where I worked sometimes in the office and sometimes outside. It was challenging and I had to rely on my own judgement a lot, but it was also very exciting.

What are you looking forward to exploring in Sabah?
Sabah, the whole of Sabah. I have already been to the Kinabatangan River but didn’t see my favourite animal, the elephant, so I will have to go back.